This Isn't A Library: New And Notable Releases To The Comics Direct Market

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Here are the books that make an impression on me staring at this week's largely accurate list of books shipping from Diamond Comic Distributors, Inc. to comic book and hobby shops across North America.

I might not buy all of the works listed here. I might not buy any. But were I in a comic book shop tomorrow I would run around touching some of them with my filthy, filthy fingers.

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[I'm going to use Brian Hibbs' list from here, because I can't find one of Diamond's. It's the same list, there just aren't that many diamond codes and numbers along with them.]

MARAT SADE JOURNALS ULTIMATE REVISED EDKING SPECIAL EDITION HC
These are two major reprint projects that might make you grumpy if you already had older editions and might make you happy if you've never purchased them or have the money to buy the best version now available.

NEWAVE UNDERGROUND MINI COMIX O/T 80S HC
This is Michael Dowers' massive book tribute to the Xerox-wielding second underground generation that almost never was. A really good book and quite effective as raw

PHONOGRAM 2 #7 (OF 7) SINGLES CLUBBPRD KING OF FEAR #2 (OF 5)DMZ #50MUPPET SHOW #2DAYTRIPPER #3 (OF 10)GROO HOGS OF HORDER #3 (OF 4)BATMAN AND ROBIN #8
This is a my short, culled list of serial comic books with at least some sort of critical imprimatur. DMZ getting to #50 seems like a big deal to me in this comics climate. There is another muppet show book out this week that's probably good, but the one listed above is the Roger Langridge ongoing.

WORLD WAR 3 ILLUSTRATED #40
This an always welcome sight, although I have to admit that at this point I really do look at them before deciding whether I want to buy one.

CHOCOLATE CHEEKS GNFROM THE ASHES TP VOL 01MESMO DELIVERY GN VOL 01
This is an interesting group of books because they all have different paths to their trade paperback status. Stevie Weissman's Chocolate Cheeks was I believe serialized on-line. Bob Fingerman's From The Ashes had a more traditional single-issues run in comic book form. Mesmo Delivery had a previous self-published version that I believe got a bump by making a convention direct hand-sale debut. And here they all are now.

LITTLE NOTHINGS GN VOL 03 UNEASY HAPPINESS
If I did picks of the week, this third volume of NBM's English-language translation of Lewis Trondheim's diary comics would be it. I get a lot of pleasure out of these comics, maybe more than anything regularly (once a year) on the stands. I can't find a big enough image of the cover to put in this post, however.

[I will practically guarantee you that there will not be 100 percent coverage of the above books given the recent snows, so shop politely]

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The full list of this week's releases, including some titles with multiple cover variations and a long, impressive list of toys and other stuff that isn't comics, can be found here. Despite this official list there's no guarantee a comic will show up in the stores as promised, or in all of the stores as opposed to just a few. Also, stores choose what they carry and don't carry so your shop may not carry a specific publication. There are a lot of comics out there.

To find your local comic book store, check this list; and for one I can personally recommend because I've shopped there, albeit a while back, try this.

The above titles are listed with their Diamond order code in the first field, which may assist you in finding comics at your shop or having them order something for you they don't have in-stock. Ordering through a direct market shop can be a frustrating experience, so if you have a direct line to something -- you know another shop has it, you know a bookstore has it -- I'd urge you to consider all of your options.